I get the most use from Classical and Contemporary Italian Cooking for Professionals by Bruno Ellmer cmc. (containing everything from regional rustic to classic fine dining entrees.) It is to Italian Cuisine what Julia Child's Mastering the Art is to French Cuisine.
It does presume a familiarity with culinary techniques.

2 editions (hard cover with photos, soft cover text only; both are pricey and either is well worth having.)

I have it, its a good book, but presented in the way lots of Italian recipe books are, no pictures, very dry. :) (I love pictures). Its also not so pure rustic Italian cookery but rather the general cookry bible for Italians.

It will be hard to find a real authentic 'italian rustic' cook book because the food is so incredibly regional. Urmaniac recommendations have always been great for me, so that would be a good place to start. :) otherwise, if you know what kind of regional ffod you like, you could ook more specifically, and possibly more successfully for regional cook books.

Amazon says: Featuring over 2,000 recipes among its 1,200-plus pages, it's easy to see why this Italian version of The Joy of Cooking, billed as "the bible of authentic Italian cooking,"

I may buy this 1 next myself. Man that is a lot of recipes !! If I could only buy the inspiration, motivation and round tuits needed, I'd be in good shape.

It's an extremely simple book to use, too. Most of the recipes have less than 10 ingredients.
Critics loved this book when it came out...to the point that bookstores couldn't keep it on the shelves. I had to wait a month for mine.

Artusi's book is somewhat like a bible to many cooking enthusiasts in Italy. He made his fortune first as a silk merchant, then after retiring decided to dedicate his life to be a "buongustaio" (gourmand), and he wrote his book at the age of 70, then not being able to find a publisher, he used his own fortune to publish it himself. You can feel his love and enthusiasm for good eating while you read his book, and truly one of a kind and so much more than just a cookbook, that is why it is still loved so much despite of the fact that it was written more than a century ago.

Artusi's book is somewhat like a bible to many cooking enthusiasts in Italy. He made his fortune first as a silk merchant, then after retiring decided to dedicate his life to be a "buongustaio" (gourmand), and he wrote his book at the age of 70, then not being able to find a publisher, he used his own fortune to publish it himself. You can feel his love and enthusiasm for good eating while you read his book, and truly one of a kind and so much more than just a cookbook, that is why it is still loved so much despite of the fact that it was written more than a century ago.